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We cannot, then, refer all that exists to Reason-Principles
inherent in the seed of things [Spermatic Reasons]; the universe
is to be traced further back, to the more primal forces, to the
principles by which that seed itself takes shape. Such spermatic
principles cannot be the containers of things which arise
independently of them, such as what enters from Matter [the
reasonless] into membership of the All, or what is due to the
mere interaction of existences.
No: the Reason-Principle of the universe would be better
envisaged as a wisdom uttering order and law to a state, in full
knowledge of what the citizens will do and why, and in perfect
adaptation of law to custom; thus the code is made to thread its
way in and out through all their conditions and actions with the
honour or infamy earned by their conduct; and all coalesces by a
kind of automatism.
The signification which exists is not a first intention; it
arises incidentally by the fact that in a given collocation the
members will tell something of each other: all is unity sprung of
unity and therefore one thing is known by way of another other, a
cause in the light of the caused, the sequent as rising from its
precedent, the compound from the constituents which must make
themselves known in the linked total.
If all this is sound, at once our doubts fall and we need no
longer ask whether the transmission of any evil is due to the
gods.
For, in sum: Firstly, intentions are not to be considered as the
operative causes; necessities inherent in the nature of things
account for all that comes from the other realm; it is a matter
of the inevitable relation of parts, and, besides, all is the
sequence to the living existence of a unity. Secondly, there is
the large contribution made by the individual. Thirdly, each
several communication, good in itself, takes another quality in
the resultant combination. Fourthly, the life in the kosmos does
not look to the individual but to the whole. Finally, there is
Matter, the underlie, which being given one thing receives it as
something else, and is unable to make the best of what it takes.
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